1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a light emitting apparatus provided with light emitting elements such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes (LDs) appropriate for use as a general-purpose image display device. The present disclosure also relates to the display section and controller circuit components of the light emitting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, high luminosity light emitting elements such as LEDs and LDs have been developed to emit all of the three primary colors: red, green, and blue (RGB). This has made it possible to make large screen, full-color, self-emitting (i.e. not backlight dependent) displays. Among the newly developed displays, LED displays feature attributes including light weight, thin outline, and high luminosity with low power consumption. Accordingly, there is rapidly increasing demand for large screen LED displays that can be used outdoors as well as indoors. Demand has also developed, from a price-performance standpoint, for displays that support high-resolution while restraining the number of light emitting elements employed.
International patent disclosure WO 00/057398 describes a display section that is representative of those used in related art image display applications. FIG. 9 is a schematic showing the layout of light emitting elements that make up the display section. The light emitting elements are red light emitting elements 20a, blue light emitting elements 20b, and green light emitting elements 20c, which emit the three RGB primary colors. RGB light emitting elements 20a, 20b, 20c are disposed at center-points between four adjacent grid-points 21 of the display matrix. Green light emitting elements 20c are disposed in an oblique crisscrossing (diamond) pattern, and red and blue light emitting elements 20a, 20b are disposed alternately in a similar oblique crisscrossing pattern.
If red light emitting elements 20a (designated first light emitting elements 20a) are focused on, each red light emitting element 20a is disposed at the center of four adjacent grid-points 21 as shown in FIG. 10. Image data sampled at points corresponding to the four grid-points 21 include red color information, which is used as a basis for activating the red light emitting element 20a at the center of those four grid-points 21. In contrast, each pixel of the display is centered at a grid-point 21 and is formed by one red light emitting element 20a, one blue light emitting element 20b, and two green light emitting elements 20c, which are adjacent and form a group surrounding that grid-point 21.
FIGS. 11-14 are schematic drawings showing groups 23-31 of RGB light emitting elements 20a, 20b, 20c, which are activated in a time sequenced manner. For example, light is emitted (by light emitting element activation) at pixels formed by the adjacent groups 23, 24, 25, 26 of light emitting elements shown in FIG. 11. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 12, light is emitted at the pixel corresponding to group 27, which is formed by the green light emitting element 20c and blue light emitting element 20b in the right half of group 23, and the red light emitting element 20a and green light emitting element 20c in the left half of group 24. Light is also emitted at the pixel corresponding to group 28, which is formed by the green light emitting element 20c and blue light emitting element 20b in the right half of group 25, and the red light emitting element 20a and green light emitting element 20c in the left half of group 26.
Next, as shown in FIG. 13, light is emitted at the pixel corresponding to group 29, which is formed by the green light emitting element 20c and blue light emitting element 20b in the lower half of group 23, and the red light emitting element 20a and green light emitting element 20c in the upper half of group 25. Light is also emitted at the pixel corresponding to group 30, which is formed by the green light emitting element 20c and blue light emitting element 20b in the lower half of group 24, and the red light emitting element 20a and green light emitting element 20c in the upper half of group 26.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 14, light is emitted at the pixel corresponding to group 31, which is formed by the blue light emitting element 20b and green light emitting element 20c in the lower half of group 27, and the green light emitting element 20c and red light emitting element 20a in the upper half of group 28.
In the system described above, all the input display data corresponding to the grid-points 21 are output to the light emitting elements 20a, 20b, 20c by control that is implemented as a function of time. Pixel groups 23-31, which are activated with intervening time increments, overlap in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Since light emission in these pixel overlap regions becomes averaged in time, reduced image resolution arises in the both horizontal and vertical directions.
The present invention was developed to resolve this type of problem. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a light emitting apparatus, display section, and controller circuit that increase resolution while reducing the number of light emitting elements employed.